TWOTHREE PR/WAYNE MAXWELL RACING:

A single point for pole position at the Phillip Island Circuit in Victoria has inched Oleon Motologic Racing rider Wayne Maxwell closer to his first Australian Superbike Championship title, now sitting just eight points off of the series lead heading into tomorrow’s season finale.

The 27-year-old has been relentless in his quest for victory at the seventh and final round of the season, topping the timesheets in every session of the weekend so far and setting himself up as the favourite for the pair of 12-lap races to be staged on Sunday.

Maxwell’s pole-setting lap of 1:33.118 was set in this morning’s 30-minute qualifying session, with the afternoon’s Superpole Shootout cancelled partway through after rain began to fall midway through the top riders’ single-laps in what was supposed to be the final qualifying run.

Today’s result leads into the 2009 championship decider tomorrow, where Maxwell now sits eight points behind championship leader Glenn Allerton after setting what was his fourth pole position in succession.

Should Maxwell score victory in tomorrow’s overall round, it will equal his fourth overall round victory in a row since he started a streak at Mallala, South Australia, in August, building momentum since with wins in the ASBK Open and most recent ASBK round alongside the MotoGP event last month.

Tomorrow’s first race is scheduled to commence at 11.30am before the second race is run at around 3.00pm, where the weather forecast is scheduled to be mostly cloudy with a possibility of showers throughout the day.

Wayne Maxwell – Superbike #47
We’ve been fast in every session since we got here and now we’ve got pole, so it’s good. It’s not going to be easy tomorrow though, I’m sure it’s going to be a dogfight. We did some long runs on the tyres during practice and we’ve been fast at the end of the stints still, so we can only do the best that we can tomorrow and see where that places us. By the end of the second qualifying session I was up to 24 laps on the tyre and the times were still reasonable even though we had no grip. It’s disappointing that Superpole didn’t go ahead, but it was fair to call it due to the rain and making sure the number one bike is good to go for tomorrow’s races is the most important thing. It’s going to be tough tomorrow but we’ll be prepared for everything the weather throws at us, so hopefully it works out for the best.

AUSTRALIAN SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP
ROUND SEVEN, PHILLIP ISLAND
Saturday Qualifying Results
1 Wayne MAXWELL (Oleon Motologic Racing) 1:33.118
2 Josh WATERS 1:33.717
3 Glenn ALLERTON 1:34.376
4 Shawn GILES 1:34.695
5 Jamie STAUFFER 1:34.781
6 Robert BUGDEN 1:35.429
7 Kevin CURTAIN 1:35.624
8 Daniel STAUFFER 1:36.070
9 Craig COXHELL 1:36.254
10 Trent GIBSON 1:36.322